Mail-catcher.



UNITED STATES PATENT omen WVILLIAM IV. SYKES, OF MANCHESTER, VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO LAURENCE (JASSELMAN, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

IVIAIL-CATCHER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June .26, 1906-.

Application filed April 24, 1906. Serial No. 313,415.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM W. SYKEs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Manchester, in the county of Chesterfield and State of Virginia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Mail-Catchers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to mail-catchers and the object of the invention is to provide a simple and effective catching device for the purpose described embodying a clamp for securely holding the mailbag after it has been gathered in by the arm and means for holding the clamp open to provide for the reception of the bag in the space subsequently closed by the clamp, the said holding device or trigger being arran ed in the path of the bag, so as to be tripped thereby.

With the above and other objects in view the invention consists in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated, and claimed,

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a mail-catcher embodying the present invention, showing the same set in readiness to receive the bag. Fig. 2 is a goss-sectional view thereof on the line 2 2 of In the accompanying drawings I have shown a mail-catcher of the type now in commen use as far as the eneral construction thereof is concerned, said catcher embodying the oblique gathering-arm 1, the crook or gooseneck 2, the base or journal member 3, and the offstanding crank-arm portion 4, provided with the usual handle 5, which may also consist of aweight for holding the arm in horizontal position ready to engage and receive the bag.

In carrying out the present invention I provide a clamp 6, whichis pivotally mounted" at 7 on the gathering-arm 1 and which has connected therewith one arm 8 of a clamp throwing and holding spring, which is coiled around the pivot 9 or pin on which the clamp is journaled, the other arm 10 of the spring being connected to a fixed point on the gathering-arm, as shown at 11. The tension of this spring is exerted to throw the clamp from the full-line position of Fig. 1 to the dot ted-line position of the-same figure.

In order to hold the clamp open in readiness to receive the bag, said clamp is provided with a shoulder which may consist of a pin 12, and said pin is engaged by the notched eX- tremity of a trigger 13 which extends across the space between the portions 1 and 3 of the catcher, being pivotally connected at 14. to the base or journal portion 3 of the catcher. As the bag is directed by the gathering-arm 1 backward toward the neck or crook 2 it strikes against the trigger 13, disengaging the same from the shoulder 12 of the clamp, whereupon the clamp is thrown inward by means of the actuating-spring therefor to the dotted-line position shown in Fig. 1, wherein it securely clamps and holds the bag in the neck or crook 2, as indicated by dotted lines, the trigger 13 swinging backward out of the way to the position shown in dotted lines in said Fig. 1.

I claim 1. A mail-catcher comprising a base and a gathering-arm connected by a crook, in combination with a spring-actuated bag-clamp, and a trigger extendin across the space between the base and gat ering-arm, said trigger holding the clamp open and being arranged in the path of the bag, substantially as described.

' 2. A mail-catcher comprising an arm which on theclamp to hold the clamp open, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM W. SYKES. Witnesses:

I. E. CLARK, M. J. WHITE. j 

